My Life in Hamburgers

My long, obsessive, and (too) deep relationship with hamburgers goes back to the earliest moments of consciousness—my plump little fingers clenching madly at tiny Royal Castle burgers, digging into the cloud-light buns with the same animal glee with which I plunged my face into the…

The Chemex

A brief meditation on a timeless piece of glass

Guacamole Is the Gateway

One of the first things you learn when you open a Mexican restaurant in New York City is that most people will order a margarita and some guacamole before ever even laying eyes on the menu.

Chefs Wanted

There’s a growing chorus of concern among professional chefs on both sides of the Canada/U.S. border over labour shortages. The charge…

My year with Russ

It was two days before Yom Kippur 2012 and Russ and Daughter’s was busier than I had ever seen it. I had been there before of course, many times. The first time I visited was with friends in 2010. I remember feeling completely elated, ecstatic and overly enthusiastic the first time my friend…